Italian athletics great Mennea dies aged 60

AFP, MILAN, Italy

Mennea was an outspoken critic of Rome’s plans to bid for the 2020 Olympics, before Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti withdrew government support.

“We’re a nation devastated by a scary economic crisis. How could we think about proposing something like this now?” Mennea said in an interview with Corriere della Sera early last year. “Zero-cost Olympics don’t exist. The real priorities of the country lie elsewhere.”